Nadal to resume training, aiming for Year End finals and Davis Cup

PARIS — Spanish tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, out of action since June, will resume training in two weeks with the aim of playing in the ATP Tour Finals and the Davis Cup final, his uncle has told Fox Sports television channel.

"In 15 days, Rafa will resume training, in time for him to aim to play in the Masters and the final of the Davis Cup," said Toni Nadal, as reported by the Twitter feed of Central Fox, the Latin American branch of Fox Sports.

Nadal, the former world number one, has not played a competitive match since his shock loss to unseeded Czech Lukas Rosol in the second round at Wimbledon on June 28.

The 26-year-old Mallorcan has been suffering with Hoffa syndrome, an inflammation of the fatty tissue situated behind the kneecap in his left knee.

He declared in late September that he would not return to the circuit until he was 100 percent fit.

Nadal missed the London Olympics and the US Open, but hopes to be fit in time for the ATP Tour Finals in London, which run from November 5-12, and the Davis Cup final on November 16-18, which will see Spain defend their title against the Czech Republic in Prague.

Both events will take place on hard courts, which are more likely to aggravate existing injuries than Nadal's preferred surface, clay.

Anytime you represent your country its more important than a non-slam. In fact I suspect Nadal wasn't too enthusiastic about making the WTF semis last year. Spain's captain said he was worried about the WTF hurting Ferrer and Rafa. And in the final round robin match vs Tsonga, Rafa faded to lose in 3. Had he won that match he'd have made the semis. Instead he was able to join his Davis Cup teammates in practice.

Anytime you represent your country its more important than a non-slam. In fact I suspect Nadal wasn't too enthusiastic about making the WTF semis last year. Spain's captain said he was worried about the WTF hurting Ferrer and Rafa. And in the final round robin match vs Tsonga, Rafa faded to lose in 3. Had he won that match he'd have made the semis. Instead he was able to join his Davis Cup teammates in practice.

It is for some. Olympics is better than slams for Rafa and Agassi. Both said their gold was the best achievement of their lives. I'm sure there are players who value Davis Cup over slams too, Rafter and Hewitt for example I believe have said this.

It is for some. Olympics is better than slams for Rafa and Agassi. Both said their gold was the best achievement of their lives. I'm sure there are players who value Davis Cup over slams too, Rafter and Hewitt for example I believe have said this.

In Davis Cup there are joke matches, like Murray's triple bagel. In WTF it's several matches in a row against a top 8 player. You're less likely to see a bagel, although Nadal *did* get bageled last year, haha. Nadalwon2098 is just willfully delusional since Nadal isn't good enough to win it.

MADRID (Reuters) - Winning a gold medal for your country at the Olympic Games is the greatest achievement in tennis, world number two Rafa Nadal said on Friday, while also leaving the door open to a possible return to Spain's Davis Cup team in September.

After his triumph in Beijing four years ago, Nadal will be chasing a second Olympic singles gold in London, when the event in July and August will be staged on the grass courts of Wimbledon's All England Club.

That’s because for the players, the Olympics means a lot. World No.1 Roger Federer has talked openly in 2012 about structuring his whole season around peaking for the Games. The lure of the Olympics is what motivated Venus Williams to drag herself back onto the tour while suffering from an auto-immune condition simply to qualify for London 2012. Atlanta 1996 gold medallist Andre Agassi describes his Olympic win as his greatest accomplishment in tennis.

For a century, the Davis Cup has been one of the world's greatest
tennis competitions. Despite the lure of big money on the professional
circuit, the cup continues to stand for sportsmanship, team spirit and
national pride. For Australia, it has given us heroes like Norman
Brookes, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Neale Fraser, Rod Laver, John
Newcombe and Patrick Rafter. And it has helped define us as a nation,
turning a rich person’s game into a country's passion.

Hewitt never said Davis Cup is worth more than a Grand Slam. He only said it was his main priority, probably because he had a good shot in it as opposed to another Grand Slam. As for the others... let's just say they're being ridiculous.

It's only a matter of time before one of the greatest rivalries of all time, Nadal-Djokovic, resumes at AO 2013. And if Nadal wins AO 2013, he can win the Australian Open and Roland Garros back to back, a heroic feat.

How did he go from unsure about the Australian in January to aiming for early November? I doubt it happens

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Toni has been considerably more optimistic in his comments about when Rafa is going to come back than Rafa himself has been. Rafa has said he plans to play in the AO, which should mean a couple of warm up events before. A while ago his friend Tomeu Salva said in some interview in Mallorca that Nadal wasn't coming back this year.

It's all about the h2h and w/l ratio, people. If memory serves, Nadal is currently 9/9 at the event, so he's probably hoping that he can make a good showing and end up (or rather, down) at 9/12, so he can proove once and for all that this is just a meaningless, cheesy exo and all of Federer's wins should at the very least be asterisked, or scratched altogether.

Jokes aside, I'm not putting much stock in what camp Nadal says (never have, really, as they're so fond of contradicting themselves and each other all the time), so I guess he'll be back when he'll be back, not when he or Toni (or the cook, the chambermaid, Xisca's hair stylist, the pool guy from Mallorqua, etc.) says he will.